The 10 Best Books For New College Graduates

Though classes and exams are over, life for new graduates is just beginning in so many respects. In order to make sure you're as prepared as possible for this next phase of life, tuck in to some of these books, which are full of questions, advice and insights that will help you prepare for your life as a working professional:

This Suess classic is a thoughtful gift for someone beginning a new chapter of their life. It addresses life's ups and downs, how to find joy in the low moments and not to take love and success for granted.

A great gift for a graduate who grew up with the world's most famous orphan wizard is a set of their own. Most students had to share the books with siblings, or the parents who purchased their childhood set will want to keep it. There are so, so many life lessons in Harry Potter, and so many rich characters to draw on, perhaps one of the most applicable for this moment in a graduate's life is in "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets," when Professor Albus Dumbledore says to young Harry Potter, "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, with coauthors James Allworth and Karen Dillon present questions people ask themselves at pivotal moments and milestones in their life, and apply business theories to them that have proven to be true. The book does not give people answers, put presents the questions and theories, and asks the reader to answer those questions for themselves, and what that means for their life.

Smith's novel follows four characters who grow up in impoverished northwest London, the NW title is the postal code of the area. It follows the four friends into their 30s, and how their paths have diverged, and how when they cross, they measure themselves in comparison to one another.

Charles Duhigg, is a pulitzer prize winning business journalist, who in this book investigates how we can change our lives by changing our habits. A perfect gift to enable the graduate in your life to begin this next chapter by understanding how to form good habits, and how to break bad ones.

Admiral William McRaven was a Navy Seal, and in this brief but profound book he introduces readers to 10 principles from his Navy Seal training that spans from lifetime values to pragmatic every day chores that help improve your life.

John Waters, the film director, screenwriter, author, actor, stand-up comedian and visual artist gave a wonderfully funny and eccentric commencement speech in 2015 at the Rhode Island School of Design, which has been printed into a slight book. One of the best pieces of advice he imparted was, “Hopefully, you have been taught never to fear rejection in the workplace. Remember, a ‘no’ is free. Ask for the world and pay no mind if you are initially turned down. A career in the arts is like a hitchhiking trip. All you need is one person to say ‘get in’ and off you go.”

For those looking for a practical book and gift, this is the option for you. Garten's genius is making traditionally difficult dishes accessible for home cooks, and this book is the basics: tomato soup, roasted tomato and caprese salad, cobb salad, mushroom risotto, roasted shrimp, grits, etc. This introduction to cooking like an adult is a good stepping stone for graduates that need to learn to cook for themselves.